Shortcuts to holiday entertaining

Dec. 2, 2012

These Cinnamon Sugar Pretzel Sticks are delicious and available at Target. Using some fun store-bought foods to supplement homemade goods makes holiday entertaining easy and stress-free. Place them in a festive bowl and you have a great snack. One of my coworkers called these pretzels 'genius.' / Nathan Papes/News-Leader

If the thought of holiday entertaining makes you cringe and think, “I don’t have time for that,” then keep this article.

Holiday parties can be easy — and should be easy. With a few tricks, your guests will have a great time, and you won’t have to slave in the kitchen. Try these fun and delicious entertaining ideas I’ve discovered to wow your friends and family.

Ready to go

• Price Cutter Plus stores have fantastic cheese selections. If you like goat cheese, try the drunken goat cheese, goat cheese brie or chevre with cranberry and cinnamon (mild and amazing). The last is so smooth, and leftovers are fantastic on toast or crumbled over a spinach strawberry salad.

• Try Hy-Vee’s large crab and cream cheese-stuffed portobello mushrooms. It’s a perfect appetizer for Christmas dinner. Plan to serve half per person, even though you’ll want a whole one. Hy-Vee has a great selection of prepared foods overall.

• Zummo’s Boudin, available at Walmart stores, is amazing. Boudin is a type of sausage popular in Louisiana, filled with rice and can be made with pork, liver, chicken, alligator, etc. Grill the boudin, slice it and serve. It’s so tasty you don’t even need mustard. If you have leftovers, stir them into scrambled eggs the next day.

• Dillons has a great Cajun Salmon Dip (by the seafood counter). Transfer it to a nice bowl and serve with crackers or French bread. Dillons also has a good cheese selection and excellent take-and-bake bread.

• Chef’s Line Piquillo Pepper & Artichoke Tapenade, available at Harter House, is a wonderful blend of artichokes and smoky red peppers. (It’s not spicy.) Leftovers are great on sandwiches. If you have a small dinner party, try buying the mushroom-stuffed chicken breasts in the meat department. They are delicious, but on the pricey side.

• I also discovered Cinnamon Sugar Pretzels from Target. Perfect for the holidays, these pretzels are fun, unexpected and delicious if you like sweet and salty combinations.

Fabulous and homemade

If you need a few, fabulous and homemade dishes, try these:

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• My friend Sara Cochran brought an excellent brie wedge to my house. It was topped with brown sugar, a little butter and slivered almonds. Pop it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes and serve with French bread. It doesn’t get much easier. It was dynamite.

• Artichoke dips are easy because you can assemble them the day before, refrigerate and bake at the last minute. Here’s a quick recipe: Stir together 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, 1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese, 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese, 1 cup mayonnaise and 20 ounces of canned or jarred drained artichoke hearts. Place in a casserole or deep pie dish. Top with 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning and dash of garlic powder. Bake in 350-degree oven for 15-25 minutes or until bubbly.

• And I recently ran this recipe in a Wednesday Taste column, but it’s worth repeating: Beat together 1 box caramel cake mix with 1 (15-ounce) can of pumpkin until smooth. Stir in 1 (10-ounce) bag cinnamon chips. Spread into greased pan (batter is very thick) and bake according to the directions on cake box, according to pan size. Serve warm or cold.

Fun food bar ideas

Variety is the spice of life, and I’ve found if you offer people choice, they have fun, even if it’s not homemade. This is one reason food bars are so popular. If you have a food bar, a few good products and one or two homemade items, you have a fantastic feast.

Here are a few food bar ideas:

• A popcorn bar is great this time of year (offer sweet, spicy and salty). Buy some good quality caramel, chocolate and Cheddar popcorn. To save money, you can mix microwave popcorn with ranch seasoning; drizzle white chocolate and cranberries over another batch of microwave popcorn; and add a spice mixture to a third bag.

• Create a hummus bar. Start with a few varieties. (Sabra Roasted Pine Nut hummus is fabulous). Then mix one plain batch of hummus with cumin and top with fresh chickpeas and olive oil. Mix another plain batch with chopped parsley, combining them in a food processor, and top with chopped tomatoes.

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• Set up a nut bar. There are so many excellent nuts, you can serve smoked almonds, wasabi nuts and cinnamon pecans. (Note: This isn’t cheap.)

• Olive bars are good, too. Buy three to four varieties of jarred or store-bought, and marinate your own. I marinate green olives in olive oil, lemon zest and rosemary; and mix olives in fennel and orange zest with olive oil. Fabulous.